Month: April 2011

As we get closer to the election and as it becomes apparent that the result will be one that no-one expected with it was called just weeks ago, the attacks from Steven Harper’s supporters in Canada’s business elite are beginning to mount. One of the latest is the claim from…Read more

I do not know if the Conference Board intended its latest release on sluggish investment in machinery and equipment to be taken up during the election campaign. However, as Canadian Press reports: The Conference Board report comes at a time when the issue of corporate taxes is a key demarcation…Read more

The last-minute election fear-mongering has started. This time it’s mostly directed at Jack Layton and the NDP. With all the recent news stories — as well as alarm raised by other leaders — about the fiscal and economic impact and record of NDP governments, I decided to take a look…Read more

According to the polls, Stephen Harper gets the highest score on handling the economy, though he only gets the nod from 38 per cent of Canadians. As the incumbent, he’s got the advantage on all other candidates. What the others have done and might do is a topic for another…Read more

Canada’s financial sector has been the greatest beneficiary of recent corporate income tax cuts, as well as from preferred tax rates applied to capital gains taxes and stock options. In total, the value of these tax preferences and tax cuts now adds up to approximately $11 billion a year for…Read more

Check out this cool tool. It costs out how much you, dear voter, will be paying to support three – only three! – Stephen Harper initiatives: fighter jets, jails, and growing the oil patch. Based on costs of the F35s and prisons as estimated by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (could run…Read more

Lawrence Martin, columnist with the Globe and Mail, has written the best review, so far, of Stephen Harper’s one-man show The Attack On Democracy. It’s a must-read on the record thus far, particularly by colleagues, friends and family members who might not much like Harper, but like the other options…Read more

I’m puzzled that the Harper Conservatives’ are getting such a free ride from the other parties and from the media on their main campaign mantra: that they are the best economic managers, that Canada is leading the international pack to economic recovery, and that Harper knows best what’s good for…Read more

We’re in the last week of a federal election campaign, and every party wants you to believe they’re there for the hardworking families of a middle class under enormous pressure. That’s you, right? The idea of the middle class resonates, because it is a notion we all share. Time and…Read more

As I note in the following op-ed in today’s Toronto Star, federal Conservative election promises entail significant fiscal costs for provincial governments. It is not the first time that Harper has tried to stick provinces with the tab. For example, his policy of increased incarceration imposes costs on provincial jails….Read more